


the devil in disguise

by writtenrevolution



Series: written like a symphony [3]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Angst, Breakup, Drinking, Explicit Language, F/M, Heartbreak, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Pining, Song fic, The Reynolds Pamphlet, Unrequited Love, short and sweet 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:40:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21726163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writtenrevolution/pseuds/writtenrevolution
Summary: “He’s a good time, and he can be so sweet. He lulls you into a false sense of security, makes you think you’re safe and then he bites. He’s the devil in disguise.”In which Thomas still has it bad, the Reynolds scandal breaks, and Eliza's done.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler (Previous), Alexander Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson
Series: written like a symphony [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1278260
Comments: 8
Kudos: 68





	the devil in disguise

**Author's Note:**

> So I have a rough outline for this series, and it's looking to be around 17 different fics. Most are around 1,000 to 2,000 words, but several are longer than that. :)
> 
> Title & inspiration taken from Carrie Underwoods, "Cowboy Casanova". Which I, obviously, don't own.

The scandal breaks a week later. 

Every newspaper in New York has at least some mention of it. Washington’s is fairly large company and Alexander is high enough up the corporate ladder that people care about what he does. For the next few days his name is splattered in the headlines, all different titles, but each one more telling, and damning, than the last. 

**Washington Inc. Head of Finance, Publicly Accused of Embezzling!**

Thomas sees it on his way to work, and doesn’t offer it a second thought. Alexander might be a prick, but he wasn’t an idiot. If he was embezzling funds, which Thomas doubts he is, he wouldn’t be dumb enough to do it and get caught. 

The next one comes a day later. 

**Alexander Hamilton, Head of Finance for Washington Inc., Declares Embezzlement Rumours False!**

Thomas doesn’t read that one either. It wasn’t news to him. He knew Alexander, knew the people that worked with him, and he’d never be able to slip anything past the higher ups. 

It’s that afternoon, that the real scandal breaks the headlines. 

**Hamilton Denies Embezzlement Rumours, Tells All About Affair With Married Woman!**

It’s the last one that finally gets Thomas’s attention. He skims the article on his laptop, sees where Monroe and Burr had accused Hamilton of embezzling and where Alex had shot back by giving them proof of an affair. Thomas reads the mistress's name, and immediately regrets it. Maria Reynolds. He knows she works in HR. She is beautiful, smart and charming. Better than Thomas. He isn’t surprised that Alexander chose such a woman to bed. She was almost exactly like Alex himself. Quick tempered, witty, all consuming. 

His next thought is about Eliza. It was a week ago that Eliza had been in his apartment, begging Thomas not to take Alexander from her. It was a painful type of irony in which the whole time she had been worried about Thomas, Alexander had already stepped out on her with someone else. 

Alexander is at work that day, but he keeps his head down for the most part. Eliza’s not at her desk, and for that, Thomas isn’t surprised. He has a mostly uneclipsed view of Alexander from his own desk, and he sees the way the man throws himself into whatever it is he’s working on. 

There is talk in the breakroom, of course, but Thomas doesn’t pay it much mind. He sits with Madison, both of them eating takeout from that good Chinese place down the block, as they try to block out the scathing remarks their coworkers make. The root of them come from Angelica, and Thomas gets it. Alexander had taken unfounded rumours of embezzling and somehow made the situation worse. He would be pissed if it was his sister, his darling Elizabeth, so he tries not to get snappy when they ruin his lunch. 

Monroe finds him sometime later, trying to fill Thomas in on the entire story. It falls mostly on deaf ears, because Thomas simply isn’t interested. He knew from the beginning that Alexander was bad news, that he was bound to break every heart he touched, and there was nothing surprising by his actions. He tunes Monroe out, tries to focus on his work, and decides - then - that he’s going out drinking that night. 

Madison walks him out. He tells Thomas about how Eliza had dumped Alex on his ass, burned all his papers, packed her shit and left. Thomas gives her props for that. For a girl who was, only a week ago, saying she could never love anyone else, she’d refused to take him back. Thomas isn’t one for gossip, but it’s either James or the tabloids and Thomas trusts his friends more than some bastard paparazzi. 

He can’t stop thinking about Maria. About why Eliza had been so worried about Thomas interfering in their relationship, when Alexander obviously wasn’t interested. That’s not to say Thomas was interested in either. Alexander was an asshole, he had cheated on his perfect girlfriend with a married woman, and Thomas isn’t interested. He isn’t jealous. He isn’t anything. 

Well, he _is_ drunk. 

He’s sitting at a bar downtown. There’s a line of empty vodka shots in front of him, drained and flipped upside down, and he’s currently sipping on a coke and rum. The alcohol pleasantly numbs his body, and his nerves, making him feel a little more put together and somehow even more like shit. 

There’s some terribly morose country song on the jukebox, and he wants to bitch out whoever played it. Or maybe thank them. He doesn’t really know what he wants. 

He’s sipping his coke and rum when someone drops down into the seat next to him. For a moment, he doesn’t bother looking over - doesn’t really care who it is - until he gets hit in the face by the scent of vanilla perfume. His eyes, damn them, glance in the new person’s direction and he freezes, his hand clenching his glass, when he sees who it is. 

Eliza Schuyler. 

Her black hair is curled around her head, her eyes covered in dark-shimmering eyeshadow and red lipstick on her lips. She flashes him a smile, smoothing down her low-cut shirt as her miniskirt rides up her thighs. 

“Hey there, handsome.” Her words are slurred and Thomas’s eyes narrow. She’s drunk. 

“Eliza,” He says as she sways on the stool, “I’m surprised to see you out.”

She raises a hand with a flippant motion, “Yes, everyone thinks I’m supposed to tuck myself away and be miserable just because my ex boyfriend is an asshole.”

“But you’re not doing that.” Thomas says, pushing one of the few full shots in her direction. 

She downs it easily before flipping it upside down and letting it hit the table. “Nope, I’m not going to let him make me feel like that.” Her smile is a ghost of what it used to be, “You know, I guess Alexander is all yours now, but let me tell you something, Thomas, and you can trust me because I know him.”

She obviously needs to rant, so he sits back on the stool, content to let her get out what it is she obviously needs to say. 

“Alexander is, well he’s like a disease. He sucks you in and no matter how much you try to fight it, he just keeps pulling you closer. He’s like a drug. No matter how much you know it’s going to burn you, you get addicted to him, addicted to the way he makes you feel.”

Thomas nods, understanding completely, and lets her continue. 

“His love is a curse. It’s great at the beginning, but then the bad follows the good but you can’t break free from him.” She says, “He’s a good time, and he can be so sweet. He lulls you into a false sense of security, makes you think you’re safe and then he bites. He’s the devil in disguise.”

“You think so highly of him?” Thomas snorts, “But, as I said before, I’m not interested in him.”

“Thomas, I know you like him, maybe even love him.” Eliza says, and Thomas doesn’t bother denying it anymore. “But I’m telling you, you have to be careful with him. Don’t believe a thing he tells you, don’t even try to, because all he can say is lies. I had heard about him. Ang had warned me, but I thought I was different. I wanted to believe I was different, but there’s no difference with him.”

Thomas’s brows furrow, “Are you actually giving me permission to go after him?”

“I don’t care what you do, Thomas, but I’m trying to warn you. I’ve been where you’ve been, and it doesn’t end well. He’s candy-coated misery, Thomas. He makes you feel things, makes you fall in love with his pretty words, and then it’s all downhill from there. You can’t fight it, you can only watch it burn. I’m telling you not to fall for it, to stay away from him for your own good. He’ll tell you anything and everything you want to hear. He’s relentless, he’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Eliza,”

“I know how it feels to be caught up in him, I really do. I know how it feels when those words, those pretty words, are directed at you. I know how it feels to have his eyes on you, to have his complete attention. It feels like you’re invincible, like nothing will ever go wrong. And look what happened. So I’m telling you, don’t fall for it. Run for your life, Thomas. Run and don’t look back.”

She downs his last shot, the glass slamming hard on the bar in front of them, and then she’s pushing away from the bar. 

“Good luck.” She says, not bothering to shoot a look over her shoulder as she disappears into the crowd. 

Thomas looks back down at his drink, and takes another sip. 


End file.
